Imagine this: You’re with the worship team Sunday. Care free. Confident. For the first time in a long time, or ever, you’re freely worshiping God, remembering his faithfulness, the love for you he has through Jesus Christ. You’re dwelling on the wonders of the Gospel, how a holy God could love a sinner like you. All of this instead of the alternative: gripping the guitar neck so hard that you can’t think straight. 

Your tone is solid, because your technique, fretboard knowledge and knowledge of what produces tone is solid. You’re not thinking about guitar anymore. You’re communing with God and exalting his Son with his people, your brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Ahhh. That should be the goal for all of us who use our guitars for the glory of the Lord.

Before we get too fair, I’ll share with you three of my biggest “Aha” moments when it comes to tone. Also, there’s tons of plugs about Worship Guitar Boot Camp and other resources throughout this article. If you need help with anything discussed, I mention where those resources are located. If you feel they would help, check them out. If you have questions prior, feel free to email me at troy@guitarforhisglory.com. I didn’t want to leave people hanging that would legitimately want some direction after reading this.

First, knowledge of inversion chords and chord structure (knowing the first, third and fifth of every major/minor chord anywhere on the neck). Something that simple had an enormous impact on my playing and tone. Coming from a Blues/R&B background prior to diving into the worship guitar style, I really had no knowledge of inversions, and really had a weak knowledge of chord structure overall. Playing chords in different places and the number of strings you’re playing, can help or hurt tone—it’s that simple. If you need help with that stuff, I have videos in Worship Guitar Boot Camp and a Moveable Chord Inversions ebook that should provide a nice launch pad.

Second, low output pickups. I can’t say enough about what low output humbuckers did for my tone. They really changed the way I EQ pedals/amp modelers and approach wet effects. I endorse Lambertones (started the journey with Lollar El Rayos, then Veritas/Pioneer Pickups—not a professional relationship, just used and loved their stuff). You can check out my write-up about Kurtis Lamberton and his creations here.

Third, playing through modeling gear so I could actually achieve the foundation edge-of-breakup tone needed to get the tones I wanted. I plug my pedalboard into two Kempers in stereo, and have had major successes with the Line 6 HX Stomp and, recently, the Strymon Iridium. In any case, it’s so much better than playing through amps that, in my personal situation and most of the players out there, can only turn up to 1 or 2, where there is ZERO tone.

 

Moving on to our topic…

Picture this: GMC Sierra Denali. 6 inch lift. Aftermarket wheels and suspension. All the trimmings. But it just doesn’t drive the way you want it. Something is missing. You’ve tried every little thing you can think of. New air filter. Better air filter. Best air filter. Exhaust. Best exhaust. Different exhaust. You get the idea…

You call your mechanic to take a look. He pops the hood. What does he find?

A four cylinder engine powering (trying) the whole thing. This analogy hopefully sets up a needed discussion about tone.

Tone is the sum of its parts, yes. Starting from the guitar and its pickups, through your pedalboard or modeling device, into your amp or amp modeler—each piece plays a critical role. I will NEVER dispute the fact that the right piece of gear can dramatically increase the quality and consistency of your guitar tone. But…

But gear can never solve all of your tone issues.

Why? If the engine powering the signal chain isn’t what it needs to be, a piece of gear or guitar will not solve the problem. The engine, of course, is you; namely, your technique, fretboard knowledge and knowledge of what produces tone.

 

Technique examples

• • That new overdrive pedal will sound as bad as your old overdrive pedal if your picking dynamics and technique aren’t sufficiently developed. For example, while there are many, a common pitfall I see is that many players are just plain scared to PLAY the guitar; they are timid and apprehensive. To achieve some of those tones, you have to HIT the strings hard. And that’s where fretboard knowledge, practice, rehearsal and so on come into play. Most people won’t hit the strings hard if they aren’t sure if they’re hitting the right strings in the first place. LOL.
  • And if you do start to hammer the guitar every now and then, if your muting technique isn’t solid, get ready to enjoy a bunch of string noise and bad notes repeating and echoing through your $1,000 delay and reverb chain. #ouch. Here’s a video about that:
    
    
  • Everything will sound equally bad if you don’t develop your ear to recognize the pickup position needed to achieve a certain tone (e.g., neck vs. bridge). If your starting point isn’t correct, nothing will sound right. There’s a video in Worship Guitar Boot Camp exploring this topic.
  • A particular part will sound just a bit off if you don’t develop your ear for where it’s played on the fretboard. Same as above. A part played on the high E string just isn’t the same as when it’s played on the B or G string, for example. I’ve made a video about this in the past as well. 

    
    

Knowledge examples

• • That new delay pedal won’t solve your problems if you don’t understand how to achieve the tone you desire—i.e., brightness of repeats vs. mix level, number of repeats, delay engine type (tape, analog, digital, etc.) and so forth. I wrote a Tone Guide to help with that. There’s also a video in, you guessed it, Worship Guitar Boot Camp.
  • That set of overdrives won’t sound good if you don’t understand what happens when you order them differently and how your tone goals should influence their placement in the signal chain. I made a video about that in the Guide To Building A Pedalboard series on guitarforhisglory.com.
  • Your whole rig will sound off if you choose an amp or amp model that isn’t conducive to the tones you’re hearing (e.g., Vox AC30 vs. Fender Deluxe Reverb).

So, if I don’t have it all together as you suggest above, you’re telling me to stop buying gear?

Of course not.

Just be realistic about what’s going to solve your problems. 

Yes, sometimes it’s gear. I’ve been on the positive side of that (my first Kemper purchase changed my guitar-playing life). Besides, buying new gear is fun, don’t forget that! As long as it’s not an idol and you’re realistic about what will solve your tone issues, buy that gear. But if you have more money than skill, be honest with yourself about what the root cause of your tone woes is: you. 

But you can still buy the gear…LOL.

Imagine the following again:

You’re with the worship team Sunday. Care free. Confident. For the first time in a long time, or ever, you’re freely worshiping God, remembering his faithfulness, the love for you he has through Jesus Christ. You’re dwelling on the wonders of the Gospel, how a holy God could love a sinner like you. All of this instead of the alternative: gripping the guitar neck so hard that you can’t think straight. 

Your tone is solid, because your technique, fretboard knowledge and knowledge of what produces tone is solid. You’re not thinking about guitar anymore. You’re communing with God and exalting his Son with his people, your brothers and sisters in Christ. 

That’s why I write these articles. That’s why GfHG exists. To help you stop thinking about playing and, instead,  spend that energy and brainpower on worshiping God, so you get the joy and he gets the glory.

Amen, brothers and sisters.